Calgary Artist Locks Himself In Clear Box Downtown

A Calgary man is living in a box on a downtown street for five days in the name of art.

Daniel J. Kirk went into a large box, made of plywood and clear plastic, in the downtown’s Stephen Avenue Mall on Monday morning and says he won't be coming out until Friday afternoon.

Caitlind Brown, another artist and Kirk's friend, describes it as an “art endurance project.” He is painting the inside of the box during his stay, which has been permitted by the downtown business association.

“Sometimes he does things and he doesn’t explain it fully. He likes to be cryptic,” she said.

Brown said he has done this kind of art experiment before, in a shed in his backyard and a cave in Turkey, but this is the first time he has done it in public.

“I know initially he had told me he didn't really want to interact too much with people around him, I think that will be fairly difficult. Stephen Avenue is a fairly active crowd. People watch, they get curious.”

Inside the locked box Kirk has a sleeping bag, his clothes, a lamp, a video camera, water, his art materials and a portable septic receptacle. He hasn’t brought any food.